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Integrating community service with Public Relations as service learning is in fact a bright idea!

In the beginning of the Spring semester I was a writer, but as time progressed I became a public relations writer and all that comes with it.

I saw a different light

It began when Candice Martinez, U.S. Director of The Zambia Project came to speak about the organization in my Public Relations class and my light continued to burn for more information. I thought about how amazing it was for someone to share a great amount of their time to an organization that was located outside of the country. I admired her drive when she spoke about Hope Art jewelry and what it takes for her to get proceeds for the organization’s product. She basically explained that she would set up a booth to sell product’s anywhere she possibly could to fulfill her main goal in feeding children in Zambia.

However, the icing on the cake was the Skype interview my PR class and me had with Matt Mackie, Director of The Zambia Project. Everyone had a chance to ask him questions to transmit through the big screen yet, some of them were simple but others were more personal. He talked about everything from the Zambian culture, to testimony’s and his own personal life. During that interview I gained a lot of information about Zambia. I also understood The Zambia Project’s purpose a lot more. Everything that was on paper seemed to become real and I felt like I needed to do something. I gained insight on why Matt’s smile was so bright because the thought of helping others, and feeding others wasn’t for charity but it was because they were his family.

Applying the skills and insight

The show and tell began at local MobilePack event. I came, I packed for starving children and I made a difference. Not to mention, I applied the skills I learned from my PR class to write a news release from the actual event.

Strategy

Photo from gemaker.

Skills that I will take from my PR class and service learning project.

As a beginning public relations writer I decided to do a little on research on PR about how to survive it and how to thrive it! Now I don’t mean to toot my own horn but I am very well a great all around writer. It’s very easy to adjust to a different form as it is for PR but I know for a fact that I must learn more knowledge about the subject to overcome any obstacles and I definitely need steps on how to be the best that I can be in my other writing and in PR.

Before I get into my articles I would like to dedicate this final blog to my Public Relations professor because well without her showing up after I signed up for class I wouldn’t of had that certain push to write out of my comfort zone and actually do “PR” stuff. After my feature story, E-newsletter, final draft of brochure, final AP quiz…and lastly a chance to get out there at an event and write about it freely then my portfolio will be making room!

“Fighting through the intensity”(Human skills & professional skills) So this is where it gets tough because like Journalism you must have people skills and you have to be able to gain their trust.

“Keeping your patience” (Gaining traction & Evolving) In public relations there is no other PR writer who could write up a sheet of good words and give it to us and boom we have our story. In public relations the bigger picture may take longer to gain attention and it may take more than one great story.

“Controlling aggression & adrenaline” (When to turn it on/off) In my opinion there is an aggression or adrenaline that comes out especially in Journalism when you’re trying to get information out for a story and they don’t know how to go about it as much as you do. However, in public relations you have to be Ms. Congeniality and you have to control your adrenaline. Therefore, being overly passive and aggressive could throw others off.

“Writing a letter, memo, and press release then being able to articulate them…” So for a journalism major and an online emphasis it’s easier for me to hide behind the rock especially with my “non people skills,” but for PR it’s a totally different ball game! After all is said and done knowing how to write a decent letter, memo, and press release will take you further in the PR industry. Also, in PR you actually have to get out there and talk to more strangers and the better you can articulate in person the better your PR reputation. Did I mention know how to write a decent press release?

In this day and age Public Relations trumps a lot of other writing out there, although I’m a journalism writer I think it is wise to have some knowledge of PR. It’s a bonus to write for all forms (PR, Journalism, Freeform writing, Novel writing, Script writing etc.) at least I’d like to think so. However it’s back to PR business.

In my opinion, public relations is like putting that fancy icing on top of a cake, decorating it, and making it all pretty. Let’s just say I baked a cake and the ingredients failed. I knew the cake was going to be disgusting, but I decided to keep the cake and pay a baker to only bedazzle it a little. As a journalism writer we need PR as much as others need it. Lets be honest, the informative press releases is what make our jobs easy. However, in a sense the two are somewhat the same because it involves all the herbs and spices to make the dish pop and all the creativity to make whatever the situation look and sound good.

Photograph from google.com

Public relations is very much so on top because of the work put into news releases, etc. I came across an article that explained how much PR was different from journalism and I agree. Journalist are often eager to get that perfect story whatever the outcome may be good or bad. This could be the reason most people dislike journalist. We write about the good stuff and the bad stuff. Public relations cares about the outcome and they ultimately want that outcome to sound the best even in reality it may not be. To exemplify, the article about the differences in PR and journalism spoke about a possible news release including tuition rising in college. Of course, students want to know why and they’re going to share how they really feel, but as opposed to journalism PR will always make it sound greater than it really is. Ultimately, when the journalism thing isn’t working too well in revenue I can count on PR to rise to the top.

TheUniversity of Central Arkansas hosted a career fair for students Wednesday, March 2, 2016 in the Student Center Ballroom. As usual, the University recycle career services every other year so there isn’t many businesses to choose from. It fairly met my expectations because I thought that I would be able to talk to a few journalism representatives but I only met with one. A reason why the fair only fairly met my expectations is because there isn’t usually enough businesses to choose from as I stated and certainly not for Mass Communication managers. However, I did meet with some great businesses. The representatives talked about their businesses and I brought my resume and portfolio to be prepared for a great deal! Although the experience was a great deal. I gained a lot of information about some fields I didn’t know anything about and upon talking with the representatives I thought about going into retail and marketing.

I did meet with a journalism type business called “Inuvo.” Luckily, Jordan the previous editor for The Fountain Magazine online that I used to write for was at the fair so he was familiar with my work. The business is located in Little Rock, Arkansas and it is a digital publishing and advertising technology company. My major emphasis for Mass Communications is Online Journalism so the job description was just what I was looking for. I think the business is so unique and the reason I’m interested is because it is so diverse. The team consist of writers, designers, marketers, developers etc. so I think that certain meet and greet went great. I could use some great experience there to get my foot in the door to the journalism world before landing a big time fashion magazine gig in New York.

Lastly, something I would change about the career fair would be the fact that it’s so claustrophobic and add more careers to choose from for juniors and seniors. I do think the idea is a great opportunity to Network and get your name out there. I feel good!

We know that in terms of news legacy media or old media are traditional means of communication and expression that have existed since before the advent of the new medium of the internet. Legacy media can include radio, television, and newspapers. It is also a style of presentation like brochure and is totally passive. The receiver does not interact with the content. A fact sheet however is passive because it is obedient to the facts. I think that print fact sheets are still viable ways to provide journalist with background information about an organization/business or product. A fact sheet is meant to give useful information for the public but is not necessarily meant for feedback. A quick printed fact sheet with all the useful facts is a great way to present background information to journalist. Whether it is an organization, business or a product you need the 5 W’s and one H answered with bold headlines. If the facts are there I don’t see any reason why printed fact sheets wouldn’t be of any use.

While browsing the internet I came across these three websites: http://www.dailyark.com, http://www.briansolis.com and http://www.edelman.com. The aspects I found most interesting in these blogs are the format of them. The story telling of each blog is different but they all share some type of wisdom to certain things or situations. The aspects I found least interesting were the fact that some of them went on to ramble so they didn’t make much sense. However, I might be wrong. I learned that it doesn’t matter how much information you share in your writing, but it is the quality of the words you write. In general, public relations steer away from negative directions.

The blog I found most interesting was found on the site Edelman.com which was named “Communicarion strategies in the US.” The blog includes some tips for success that connects with informing the reader. The blog informs the reader of an issue that the reader experienced and enough information to back up her story. It compares information; therefore, it tells a story. The blog also describes the issue and completes it with findings of fixing the issue in the opposition. In my opinion, description, quality, and story telling is important in these aspects.